April 6, 2013 — Sonoma coast. November 21, 2019 — Silicon Valley What struck me about this scene was the texture of the water below the creamy sky. It still strikes me. What struck me about the Sony RX100 was the notion of getting exhibition-sized prints out of a pocket camera. That notion stopped striking me years ago. The sticker on the front of the camera quietly proclaims Zeiss Optics. Zeiss. That means quality. Not so […]
November 16, 2019 — Blue hour, Point Reyes National Seashore How many movies have you seen that were “based on a true story” or “based on historical events”? This is based on an actual blue hour as seen from the south end of the Point Reyes Peninsula, looking north. (Canon G5X II. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.0; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
October 11, 2019 — Seat 14 F, Somewhere Over Texas Rules exist for a reason. Rules are normally based on how things work, perhaps with a measure of caution dialed on for safety’s sake. It’s good to know the rules. It’s better still to know how things work. Following the rules without exception can lead to creative imprisonment. Knowing how and when to bend, break, or utterly ignore them altogether because you understand the underlying […]
November 10, 2019 — Wright’s Lake, California Whatever it is, it feels no pain and it never cries. It spends a lot of time reflecting. What do you do when you go out on your first shoot in several weeks and you’re not satisfied with your take? You crop ruthlessly and improvise in post-processing. (Nikon D500, Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.0; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
December 8, 2018 — Point Reyes National Seashore Mr. Red Tail sat on a rock about fifty yards down a ravine, in perfect view but with his back to the camera. I waited. And waited. With scant warning he took flight, heading out to sea before turning a tight one-eighty and coming right at me. No. Not at me. At his next perch. He picked his spot. Flared. And grabbed his rock. He gave me […]
November 5, 2019 — Home. It was just a year ago today / Mike, he taught the WordPress to play. / It’ll never go out of style / Still guaranteed to raise a smile. Posts: 114. Views: 8,221. Visitors: 3,477. Followers: Quantity more than made up for by quality. Click along with me as I look back before continuing into the second year. The first post, on November 5, 2018, was titled Moving Forward. It’s […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. f/16, 4 seconds, ISO 64. Pan to the left. After a brief hiatus, one more. This is not too different from what originally emerged from the camera — but a bit reduced in vibrancy as a salute to Jerry and Robert who were somewhat minimalist themselves at times. Coming up on a year in the blogosphere. Thinking of a suitable celebration. Stay tuned… (Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. f/16, 4 seconds, ISO 64. Pan to the left. This is the longest uninterrupted series I’ve done so far on this blog. Your comments have been interesting, informative, and gratifying. A number of people have asked in comments, email, and in person, to see a “before” image. I don’t usually like to discuss technique because I think it’s potentially limiting: I don’t want it to come off as “do […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. Earlier in the evening. f/16, 3 seconds, ISO 64. Pan to the left. In the past few days, many words on the subject of going in the nonobvious direction have passed through my eyes. Aside from being interesting advice for life, photographically this applies to both the initial creation of the image — click — and to the post-processing of the image. A recurring theme for me has been […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. Getting even later. Getting even darker. Still at f/10. Now 15 seconds at ISO 64. Pan to the left and back to the right with a twist. Luke’s mentor advised him to use the Force. My mentors have advised me to embrace and use the conditions before me. There were lights before me. (Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 2.3; Editing […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. Getting later. Getting darker. I opened up to f/10 to let in a little more light, and let it go for 10 seconds at ISO 64. Click. Slow pan to the left and back to the right. Clack. In dealing with abstracts, all of the hard-and-fast “rules” go out the window. The only consideration left in post-processing is “what do I want to show?” Something in the image suggests […]
September 7, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. Second evening. Five second exposure, f/16, ISO 64. Yesterday’s post was almost exactly what came out of the camera. A bit of color optimization, removing a tiny bit of extraneous light on the left, and a 16×9 crop. That was it. Today’s image, on the other hand, received extensive tweaking, first in DxO PhotoLab and then in Photoshop. Most of the work went into bringing out the subtle color […]
September 6, 2019 — Lake Tahoe. The sun was down and the conditions were perfect for some ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) work looking across and around the lake. As the evening progressed, the shutter speeds declined. This one was made towards the end of the first night of spin: f/16 @ 8 seconds, ISO 64. This series is a test of my ruthlessness as an editor/curator. More to come. (Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di […]
August 6, 2019; Vevey, Switzerland. I promised another shot from this dizzying, dazzling, drenching day and here it is. Looking south from Vevey, twenty-three minutes after the first shot posted on August 7, facing the same direction. As the weather speculators are fond of saying, “rapidly changing conditions.” Quite a few pixels had their lives subtly but permanently altered on this one — all for a good cause. (Canon G7X II. RAW processing in DxO […]
August 25, 2019; Cuckmere Haven, The Seven Sisters, East Sussex. This is a follow-on to yesterday’s post. The day was such that we came to be standing quite happily knee-deep in the English Channel doing ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) shots of the water (yesterday) and the cliff named Haven Brow, which you see a vestige of above. Both shots are processed to a fare-thee-well — and done so with wild abandon equal to the shot […]
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